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L'Arcangelo
Local foodies are quick to recommend this elegant gem, where Italian classics undergo perfect make-overs - think chilled tomato soup with Roman dumplings, or hazelnut mousse with grappa-infused gianduia chocolate.
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L'Archeologia
Near the Basilica and Catacombe di San Sebastiano, this baronial-esque dining den - complete with elaborate flower arrangements, velvet drapes and Europe's oldest wisteria in the garden - is a safe bet for authentic regional grub and is a hit with perfectly preened Italian families out for Sunday lunch. The spaghetti primavera (spaghetti with zucchini, fresh tomato, basil and prawns) is sublime, and service is refreshingly friendly.
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La Botticella
On a quiet Trastevere backstreet, this offers pure Roman cooking, outside under the lines of flapping washing, or inside in the twee dining area. Menu stalwarts include tripe and rigatoni alla paiata (pasta with calf's intestines), but there are less demanding dishes, such as an excellent spaghetti all'amatriciana and fritto alla botticella, a tempura-like dish of deep-fried vegetables and delicious apple slices.
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La Buca di Ripetta
Popular with actors and directors from the district, who know a bargain when they see it, this is cheery and dependable, and you may have to queue. Cooking is robust. Try the country-style soup with rosemary-scented bread or the roasted suckling pork with potatoes and you'll be fuelled either for more sightseeing or for a lie down.
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La Carbonara
La Carbonara offers superb ringside seating on the never-dull Campo de' Fiori. The food is good, earthy Roman fare that comes at surprisingly honest prices. As its name suggests, it's known for its spaghetti alla carbonara , although the restaurant is actually named after a coal shop that the owner's father once ran.
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La Cicala e La Formica
A charming, hip restaurant, 'the cicada and the ant' serves up simple Italian food with a smile. There's a good selection of pasta, meat and seafood dishes, including a delicious carpaccio di pescespada (delicate slices of raw swordfish). It has a barrel-vaulted, arty interior decorated with Schiller-style paintings, and a few outside tables.
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La Dolceroma
'Sweet Rome' specialises in sticky Austrian strudels, Sacher torte, pastries, muffins and cookies. It also has splendid ice cream, and everything's made on the premises. Perfect when the legs are beginning to go and the spirit's waning.
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La Focaccia
Hotfoot it to an outside table at this unsigned, gay-friendly pizzeria. It faces the beautiful Chiostro del Bramante, and inside the downstairs dining room is surprisingly big. As well as great bruschetta, you can eat wood-fired pizzas and breads, and delicate fresh pastas.
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La Fonte della Salute
Whether this Trastevere gelateria really is a fountain of health (as its name translates) is debatable, although the soy- and yoghurt-based gelati support the theory. The fruit flavours are superb and the marron glace (candied chestnut) is so delicious that it has to be good for you. The scoops are generous.
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La Gallina Bianca
The 'white hen' is a friendly, handy pizzeria among the minefield of tourist trash around Termini, serving great thick-crust Neapolitan pizzas made from slow-risen dough. It's large and airy, decorated in cool pale blue and old wood, with shaded outside seating on a not-too-busy street.
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La Gensola
This discreet Sicilian smasher fills small, brightly lit, graceful adjoining rooms, and offers superb cooking. It specialises in seafood - try the delicious tuna tartare or pasta with fresh anchovies. This is the kind of restaurant you want to have in your neighbourhood: it's unpretentious but classy, waiters are knowledgeable and quirky, and foodies will love it.
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La Piazzetta
Molto simpatico, on a tiny medieval lane, this gay-friendly restaurant has a fabulous antipasti buffet and equally impressive primi and secondi - try the yolky carbonara . A dessert-sampler buffet means you don't have to face a difficult decision between puddings.
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La Rosetta
La Rosetta is so excellent that it doesn't have to be overly formal. Some say this is Rome's best fish restaurant; others say it's the best in Italy. Chef Massimo Riccioli's dishes are often startlingly simple - cuttlefish with lemon and olive oil or linguine ai frutti di mare (flat spaghetti with seafood) - but they're prepared with genius. He can also innovate, as his moscardini (baby octopus) with mint shows. Bookings are essential.
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La Tana dei Golosi
Created as a culinary adventure, this simple-looking restaurant has an ever-changing menu that travels all around Italy twice monthly, featuring different regional cuisines. A southern period, for example, may feature tiella barese (rice, mussels and potatoes) and polpette di melanzane (aubergine balls). All ingredients are exceptional: it's the holy grail of regional excellence pursued with dedication.
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La Taverna degli Amici
Roman politicians like to eat well, and La Taverna degli Amici is where many from the nearby Democratici di Sinistra headquarters come to lunch. On a quintessential ivy-draped piazza on the edge of the Jewish Ghetto, it serves consistently good Italian food: pasta and risotto, meat classics like saltimbocca alla romana (veal with ham), fish and homemade desserts. There's also an excellent wine list. It gets busy at lunchtime so service can be slow.
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Le Naumachie
This modern, popular pizzeria caters to locals and tourists, has a brick-arched, spacious interior, and offers classic Roman pizzas at both lunch and dinner, with tried-and-tested toppings such as capricciosa (a variety of toppings, usually mushroom, ham, artichoke and olives) and marinara (seafood).
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Lo Zozzone
'The dirty one' (a nickname that unfortunately stuck) is a brilliant panino (bread roll) joint, and is leaving its dirty roots further and further behind. These days there are chairs and tables, inside and out! Pay at the till for a regular or large pizza bianca , then ask for it to be stuffed with your belly's desire at the bar.
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Margutta Ristorante
Vegetarian restaurants in Rome are rarer than parking spaces, and this black-, red- and grey-toned place is an unusually chic way to eat your greens. Most dishes are excellent, there's an impressive wine list and staff are friendly and bilingual. Around 70% of ingredients used are organic, all pasta and desserts are homemade, and - vegans rejoice! - it also offers a four-course vegan menu.
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Mario
Under a wood-beamed ceiling, Mario has been serving up earthy Tuscan cooking to tourists and locals since 1960 - and the interior doesn't seemed to have changed much. Try classics such as ribollita (bread soup) and pappardelle alle lepre (pasta with hare sauce), or fuel your shopping with a bistecca alla fiorentina (Florentine steak).
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Mario's
A bit smarter in recent years, Mario's nevertheless remains what it has always been - a modest trattoria plastered with postcards and photos, serving homely food to whoever's hungry. Mamma shuffles from kitchen to table in her slippers, bringing out bowls of steaming pasta, plates of grilled meat and generous carafes of house wine. It's all good but the ricotta and spinach ravioli served in butter and sage is wonderful.
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Matricianella
Romans love this quintessential yet upmarket trattoria, with its typically Roman cuisine, gingham tablecloths and chintzy murals. It's on a quiet cobbled street with some charming outside seating. The fried snacks are great (try fried potato peel and ricotta), meat dishes fabulous and the chocolate and ricotta dessert a grand finale. Book ahead.
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Moma
Molto trendy: this café-restaurant, popular with workers from nearby offices, is a real find. There's a small stand-up café downstairs, with a nice little deck outside where you can linger longer over coffee and delicious dolcetti . Upstairs is a cucina creativa restaurant (meals around €60 ).
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Museo Atelier Canova Tadolini
In 1818 sculptor Canova signed a contract for this studio, which agreed it would be forever preserved for sculpture. The place is still stuffed with statues, and it's a curious but unique experience to sit among the great maquettes and sup an upmarket tea or drink an aperitivo .
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Nanà Vini e Cucina
It's tricky to find somewhere reasonable near the Trevi fountain, but this is an appealing and simple trattoria. Eat in the large inviting interior, under huge brass pipes, or outside on the piazzetta . Try starters such as courgette flower stuffed with buffalo mozzarella or seafood salad, then move on to something like orecchiette (ear-shaped pasta) with a sauce of courgette and clams.
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Naturist Club - l'Isola
In attic-like, wood-lined rooms, this self-service vegetarian restaurant has a rustic feel and serves a variety of tasty salads and pasta dishes, including vegan options and some fresh fish. The food is good and the setting intimate - a world away from the street below. Reservations are requested for the evening. Nudity not necessary.
